The Liberal Conservative

Since Twitter’s ban on President Donald J. Trump, major social media companies banned the president’s access. They include Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Google, Snapchat, and Reddit to name a few. As a result of these bans, people have been arguing whether banning President Trump’s social media accounts violate the First Amendment’s freedom of speech right. At first look, it may seem that the censorship of ideas and opinions of anyone should be protected by the government; however, the Constitution only refers to the government’s regulation on freedom of speech and not private companies. As stated in the First Amendment of the Constitution, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” As stated, the First Amendment only protects censorship of the people against the Congress of the United States of America. If Twitter was government owned and run, it will clearly be a violation of the First Amendment. However, as Twitter is a privately owned company which means that the rule of Twitter’s terms of service apply rather than the First Amendment, users of Twitter must abide by Twitter‘s guidelines or else Twitter can suspend or warn the users. Twitter‘s terms of service state, “We reserve the right to remove Content that violates the User Agreement, including for example, copyright or trademark violations or other intellectual property misappropriation, impersonation, unlawful conduct, or harassment.” There are specific hateful conduct policies such as violent threats and wishing, hoping or calling for serious harm on a person or group of people. As all users have to agree to these terms of service before opening up the account, there are no legal remedies for defending President Donald Trump’s ban on social media. Those who oppose the ban of President Trump’s social media made an argument that Twitter is a public and not a private company. The fact is that Twitter is a privately owned company in the sense of ownership, however Twitter is a publicly traded company which means that Twitter’s stocks are purchased and sold by the general public. Per these reasons, freedom of speech is not violated as long as these social media companies identified a breach of terms of service by Donald Trump’s accounts on their respective servers.

On January 6th 2021, in the Capitol Hill in Washington DC, lawmakers assembled both in the House of Representatives and the Senate in order to count the electoral college ballots sent in by each state’s election officials. The joint session of the Congress began at 9 a.m. ET where the state of Alabama’s count was the first ballot to be certified. Since then, the joint session continued on until the peaceful protest outside of the Capitol Hill turned violent. Protestors with banners of “Trump 2020,” American flags, and confederate flags stormed the Capitol Hill in in no time which led to the halt of the joint session and the immediate evacuation of all members of Congress. Lawmakers were told to wear a gas mask under their seats and evacuate from the rioting outside the Capitol Hill building. After some struggles between the capitol police and the peaceful protesters turned rioters, the main door of the Capitol Hill opened leading to violent rioters storming the corridors of the Capitol Hill. Many media called these rioters as “insurgents” and “domestic terrorists.” The fact of the matter is that the Capitol Hill fell only once before this historic January 6th 2021, 1814 by the British. It is a historic moment to remember, but this violence has caused windows to shatter, 4 people dead and counting, 50+ arrests, and a momentary halt of the counting of the electoral college ballots. As soon as the police and the National Guard arrived at site clearing corridors and rooms of any intruders, the perimeter of the Capitol Hill was secured and the joint session of Congress once again began. After several objections by the Republican lawmakers leading to debate by the House of Representatives and the Senate, the official confirmation of the 46th President of the United States of America has been confirmed as Joseph R. Biden of the state of Delaware and the Vice President of the United States of America has been confirmed as Kamala D. Harris from the state of California. This confirmation was held at 1 a.m. of January 7th 2021 after debates after debates. As history will remember, Joseph R. Biden has been confirmed the 46th President of the United States of America even after turmoil of violent rioters storming the Capitol Hill.

Freedom of Speech and Social Media Bans

Peaceful Protest Turned Riot and Violent